London has been battered by 50mph winds that have felled trees and caused travel chaos. Powerful gusts swept across the capital as the Met Office issued a yellow "be aware" weather alert for most of the country.

The conman who sold fake bomb detectors to Iraq has been jailed for 10 years after a judge said he had blood on hands.

James McCormick, 57, showed no reaction as he was told his "callous confidence trick" was the worst fraud imaginable.

At the Old Bailey Judge Richard Hone told him: "I am wholly satisfied that your fraudulent conduct in selling so many useless devices for simply enormous profit promoted a false sense of security and in all probability materially contributed to causing death and injury to innocent individuals."

He jailed McCormick, who was thought to have made £50 million from selling three models based on a novelty £13 golf ball finder to Iraq and other countries.

McCormick, of Langport, Somerset, was found guilty of three offences of fraud last week.

The prosecution said there was no scientific basis to the detectors and they were nothing more than a con.